SOUTHLAND ROUNDUP

Pepperdine 69, UC Santa Barbara--The Waves continued the maturing process by outplaying the Gauchos in the second half and withstanding a shaky final two minutes to hold on for the victory before 1,384 at the Thunderdome in Goleta.

Pepperdine (8-4) completed nonconference play with a three-game winning streak and, perhaps more important, won away from home for only the third time in seven outings.

The Waves’ Gerald Brown led all scorers with 20 points.

“It’s important that we showed ourselves that we can win on the road,” Coach Lorenzo Romar said. “Two or three weeks ago, we may not have won this game. But we’ve grown up since then.”

Santa Barbara fell to 3-7.